Wednesday, January 21, 2015

How to Stop Stephen Harper From Using the War to Win the Election

I hate to ask this question, because I hate to criticize the opposition parties at a time like this one.But when will they understand that our war in Iraq is just a sideshow?Understand that the real war is the battle to defeat Stephen Harper and his Cons and take this country back. And stop falling into Harper's obvious traps.Like they did yesterday.For the day before that our military revealed that our special forces troops have been spotting targets for our CF-18 bombers, and had exchanged fire with the ISIS terrorists.Canadian soldiers have fired on Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq, in what is thought to be the first confirmed ground battle involving Western forces.
Acting in self-defence, the Canadians used sniper fire and did not suffer any casualties, said the general in charge.Which in itself should have been a warning, since the military usually never says ANYTHING about the operations of our special forces...

So it should have been a sign that some other sinister agenda might be in play.But despite that flashing red light, yesterday came the predictable response from the opposition.NDP Leader Tom Mulcair and Justin Trudeau's Liberals are accusing the Harper government of misleading Parliament after Monday's revelation that Canadian Forces advisers exchanged gunfire with ISIS in what may be the first confirmed ground battle involving Western forces in northern Iraq.Which while it's all true; it is minimal mission creep, and Harper probably did mislead Parliament. It doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. Canadians don't care about his contempt for Parliament or they would have thrown him out of office long ago.And all it did was set up the Cons to deliver this obvious response. “If you fire on Canadian forces, they will fire back. It’s an act of self-defence, and I think Canadians expect that of our armed forces,” Mr. Nicholson said.And know that most Canadians would support that statement. For who would want our troops not to defend themselves?Or not want to take a shot at those hooded genocidal crazies...

I know I would. And that even though I hate war and violence, I would give almost anything to behead that cowardly mass murderer, with a blunt pen knife if possible. It's deplorable, but it's human nature.And the opposition should remember how that kind of visceral response boosted Harper's polls after the Parliament Hill shooting.And understand by now that Harper is just using the sideshow in Iraq, and this latest cause.To try to portray the opposition as weaklings, and himself as a Great Strong Leader.

The intended message was clear: Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives are standing up for Canada — abroad against Islamists who would murder you in your beds; at home against Americans who would steal your jobs.The Conservatives want us to know that in Iraq, under Harper’s peerless leadership, Canadian snipers are taking out terrorists.Even though it was the Con regime who stole our jobs by flooding the country with foreign workers, and sold us out to foreign interests. And Harper is of course, no Great Strong Leader...

Just a cowardly nerd who hid in a closet, soiled his diapers, and then launched an attack ad accusing Trudeau of being a weakling.This whole sideshow is absurd, but the danger is that should some kind of terrorist act happen, or some Canadian soldiers be killed, before the next election. He could benefit again from the visceral response, and use it to scoop up another majority.So I believe the opposition needs to inoculate themselves against such an occurrence, and turn the tables on Harper by doing more than just calling him a liar.(1) Demand to know why Canadian planes have only dropped bombs 24 times in all their time there, and do we need to send 10 more planes or 20 more planes to make our mission more effective? Or is it just for SHOW?

(2) Demand to know how much our campaign is costing, something the Cons are still hiding. And shouldn't they be spending more? Or are the Cons just trying to save money so they can balance the budget and bribe voters?(3) Demand to know why the Cons are not setting up de-radicalization programs to rehabilitate wannabe jihadis before they strike, as other countries like Norway, Sweden, and Germany have? Why won't they make us SAFER?(4) Demand to know why at a time when he's doing almost nothing to stop ISIS, he's waging war on his own people, and playing politics with terror? Increased liberties are supposed to be a cornerstone of conservative governments. But what’s more apparent with these Conservatives is an overbearing presence, whether it be in respect to curbing civil liberties, a draconian approach to criminal justice, bullying opponents, or the obsession of the Prime Minister’s Office with controlling all that goes on.And most importantly, both opposition parties should vote to support an limited extension of the mission when it comes up for a vote. Bearing in mind they can always vote to cancel it the day after the Harper government is defeated.So that if a terrorist act, that Stephen Harper must be praying for, does happen before the election. We can use it against him rather than the other way around. I know all this sounds a bit Machiavellian and unprincipled. But as I said at the beginning, this is not a game of patty cakes, it's a desperate battle to take our country back. So failure is not an option. And all is fair in love and WAR.We need to suck the political oxygen out of this issue, and portray Harper as a coward who is playing politics with our lives...

And is only posing as a Great Strong Leader because he can no longer play the role of Great Economist Leader.We need to attack him and his foul Con regime by all legal means necessary.We need to be fighters not wimps.So we can CRUSH them rather than just defeat them.And BURY them for a generation...

9 comments:

The terrorists are coming the terrorist is coming oh me gosh they are Steve and the con wreaking Canada ball con crew. Ouch the real terrorist are the harper-cons and baird made me puke again on his "tour" actually vote gathering on the taxpers dime um no make that taxpayers paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for BS...

We are F**ked Simon...

How do we rid ourselves of this pestilence if honest people are so alienated they won't vote?

Slime and swill up on the hill parliament hill that is dominated by piggies waiting in line for retirement pensions the size us normal folks will never see...

Michael Sona, the former Conservative charged with the robocalls scandal, says in Party of One book by Michael Harris: "...it's is not the facts of situations that are important to this government, it is the perception of the facts. That is why this government spends so much time driving a simple narrative as opposed to actually fix problems. When they make mistakes at the top, they try to cover themselves by withholding the facts.. "

And this government is so clever that keeps distracting the opposition [and all Canadians] with perceptions, instead of facts. I think the questions that Simon proposes would cover these facts. And there are many other questions they could ask to this government. Don't forget that harper keeps hiring people like Arthur Finkelstein to advise him how to cover these truths, what to tell us, things we "need to believe" and so on.

The opposition must learn these tricks and respond accordingly, instead of playing their games of terror, fears, etc.

Canadians must demand these truths, the opposition must tell us what are they offering instead. Then, we can decide to VOTE for the proper party that will stop harper.

hi norberto...yes Sona and Harris are right, it is the politics of perception. But then in this distracted world politics is largely perception. So the opposition must learn from that and use the politics of perception against them. It's no good just listing their crimes, we need to build up a simple narrative, employ it in every message, and hammer home that message as hard as we possible can. The YES side in Scotland did that by creating a mighty movement, And in the four months since the referendum has quadrupled its members, is on track to wipe out the Labour Party in Scotland, and maybe even hold the balance of power in the British Parliament after their Spring election. So it can be done here...

Harper purposely released this, what would otherwise be confidential info hoping the opposition would freak out and then he could jump on his high horse and tell us how he will protect us from his command and control closet. Makes you wonder who the fuc* is running this country while the arsehole keeps playing his partisan political games.

hi anon...of course the prompted the military to release the information about our special forces and their skirmish with ISIS, something that as I pointed out they NEVER do. And yes it does make you wonder how much they have politicized the military and the police, and is yet another reason we need to get rid of them before they turn us into a police state...

Not sure my comment came through - I was saying I would love to see Simon's take on this aspect of Harper -- seems like fundamentalism and oil go together everywhere in the world, no matter the nominal religion. See http://www.watershedsentinel.ca/content/harper-evangelical-capitalism